Analysis and interpretation of flint toolmarks found on bones from West Tump long barrow,Gloucestershire

West Tump is a Neolithic chambered tomb originally excavated in 1880. The mound was found to contain a mixed skeletal assemblage, the majority of which was disarticulated. Between 2000 and 2001 material from the site including human bone was re‐examined with a portion of this project focused on taphonomic evidence observed on the human skeletal material. Amongst the factors selected for investigation were deliberate toolmarks. Three specimens were identified as exhibiting toolmarks. Analysis demonstrated that the observed features were cutmarks, consistent with the use of flint tools. However those on two of the specimens were found to be both post‐mortem and recent. The cutmarks observed on the remaining specimen, a right clavicle, were identified as having been inflicted during the peri‐mortem period and consistent with decapitation. British Neolithic mortuary practice has been the subject of ongoing debate since the earliest excavations of relevant sites, but until very recently few assemblages from such contexts have been re‐examined and much of the data in use has derived from sources of considerable age and questionable reliability. The selective removal of specific skeletal elements (particularly skulls) has repeatedly been described in the literature regarding the collective funerary monuments of this period. It has often been assumed that such practices took place after the soft tissues had decayed. One of the examples discussed, suggests this may not always have been the case and the potential significance of this finding is discussed in addition to a possible interpretation of the cutmarks seen on the remaining specimens. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Survival of a multiple skull trauma: the case of an early neolithic individual from the LBK enclosure at Herxheim (Southwest Germany)

The Early Neolithic enclosure of Herxheim yielded the human remains of more than 450 individuals mainly represented by cranial vaults and numerous fractured cranial and postcranial bones. The skulls were shaped post‐mortem into skull caps by intentional separation of the cranial base and facial bones. One of these calottes revealed four ante‐mortem traumatic lesions and additional cut marks.The defects of this individual were analysed in detail to obtain information on the chronology and consequences of the traumata and manipulations and their probable intention. Four marks could be attributed to at least two violent incidents because of their different stages in the healing process. There is no evidence of cranial surgery, but the individual may have received some medical treatment and social care to survive the injuries without complications. The peri‐mortem cut marks and the post‐mortem intentional shaping of the skull cap, however, can be seen as typical for the treatment of the Herxheim dead and cannot be attributed to violent conflicts. The results support the evidence gained from preliminary examinations of the Herxheim human remains and suggest a more complex view of the final phase of the Linear Pottery Culture (LBK) in southwest Germany. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cutmarks on Capsian human remains: implications for Maghreb Holocene social organization and palaeoeconomy

In 1930, the remains of five adults, one subadult, and one infant were excavated from Site 12, a ca. 8000 bp Capsian escargotière in Algeria. Recently, cutmarks were found on several postcranial bones of each of the adult individuals. In an attempt to reconstruct the burial circumstances, archival materials including photographs and field notes were retrieved from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the Logan Museum at Beloit College, and a detailed study of the cutmarks was carried out. The cutmarks are associated mostly with long bones and skulls, while two individuals show cutmarks on the thorax. Using theories relating secondary burial practices to a nomadic lifestyle, it is hypothesized that the individuals died away from camp. Initial preparations, while awaiting transport to Site 12, involved limited exposure, followed by decapitation, dismemberment, and possibly defleshing of the thorax and removal of the internal organs. At Site 12, a formal burial ceremony was conducted during which red ochre was used. In some cases the dismembered extremities were placed in the grave with the rest of the body, but several skulls and long bones are missing. It is not known what the missing bones were used for, although Capsian groups are known for modifying human bones for either utilitarian or ritual purposes. This is the first time that cutmarks on human remains are reported for this area and period. The idea that Capsian people practiced decapitation and dismemberment has been suggested before, based on observations on other sites, however. Studies of human skeletal material from the Maghreb, often excavated decades ago, may therefore reveal similar types of evidence. It is suggested that such studies will contribute significantly to our understanding of Holocene Maghreb burial practices, and our ability to reconstruct social organization and palaeoeconomy. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The LBK Enclosure at Herxheim: Theatre of War or Ritual Centre? References from Osteoarchaeological Investigations

Abstract

Numerous highly fragmented bones and some partial skeletons characterise the human skeletal remains at the Early Neolithic Linear Pottery Culture (LBK) enclosure of Herxheim, near Landau, Rhineland-Palatinate. The predominant portion of the archaeological and osteological finds had been deposited within apparent ditches, and these finds and the possible circumstances of their deposition led to the preliminary assumption that they were the result of a warlike conflict. First doubts were raised by the very large total number of at least 450 individuals. Moreover, the evidence that those skull injuries caused by strong blows had all completely healed, that intentional manipulation of the skulls, cut-marks and fragmentation of the postcranial skeleton were consistent among the finds, and that the human remains were laid down in depots, all suggest a recurring ritual act rather than a single warlike incident. Therefore, the hypothesis of a wartime event at Herxheim should be dismissed.     

MICRODENTICULATES OF THE FUNNEL BEAKER CULTURE: LITHIC ATTRIBUTE ANALYSIS,USE‐WEAR ANALYSIS,AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

In a study published in 1994, Helle Juel Jensen observed that microdenticulates are tools whose function is difficult to assess. She calls the use of the tools “an unresolved functional puzzle”. This study proceeds from that conclusion. Based on attribute and use‐wear analyses together with contextual studies the results show that microdenticulates are complex tools, in which other parts of the flake besides the denticulated edge were used. The result also show that other flint objects from the flint asemblage were used for the same operations as the microdenticulates. The work comprised a conceptual action in which the production, use, and deposition of the material were all parts of the same process. The task was given in advance. The work probably consisted of preparing or treating plant fibres in some way in order to make thread, rope, bast, or the like. The result shows that seemingly simple tools like microdenticulates were a part of the materiality of the south Scandinavian Funnel Beaker complex. The work conducted using the microdenticultates and the tool box associated with them was associated with concepts shared by people over large areas (present day south Sweden and Denmark) over hundreds of years (from Early Neolithic to Middle Neolithic AI).     

Starch grain analysis for groundstone tools from Neolithic Baiyinchanghan site: implications for their function in Northeast China

Large numbers of groundstone tools have been uncovered from archaeological sites in the Early Neolithic period in China. Traditionally they are often regarded as agricultural tools for processing cereals. In this paper we report preliminary starch grain analysis of groundstone tools from Baiyinchanghan site to gain a better understanding of use of these tools in the Northeast China. We found that starch grains on these groundstone tools are most likely from Quercus sp. The result of this study indicates that many groundstone tools for the Early Neolithic period were used to process wild and domesticated plants alike.     

European Pond Turtles from Obříství (Bohemia,Czech Republic)

The paper describes and analyses recent finds of the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) from the archaeological sites at Obříství (Mělník District, at the confluence of the Elbe and Moldau rivers in the Bohemian Basin, Czech Republic). Turtle remains were found in three sunken features dated to the Late Bronze Age or to the Hallstatt period, and in one feature dated to the Neolithic. The high number of osteological finds, particularly the number of individuals found in one place, is unique within Bohemia and very rare for the Bronze Age to Iron Age in Europe. A large number of shell remains were identified, from at least 12 individuals in feature 1480, and from at least 5 individuals in feature 1483. The high numbers support the hypothesis that the European pond turtle was once a regular feature of the local fauna, even though the Bohemian basin is surrounded by mountains, which will have presented difficulties for the process of postglacial recolonization by semiaquatic thermophilous reptiles. The findings from Obříství show evidence of the exploitation of turtles for food. Signs of culinary procedures and the human consumption of turtles include anthropogenic chop marks, signs of burning and the apparently intentional segmentation of the turtle bodies. The quantity of turtle bones is still negligible, however, compared with those of mammals. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MESOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC (DIS)CONTINUITIES IN THE DANUBE GORGES: NEW AMS DATES FROM PADINA AND HAJDUČKA VODENICA (SERBIA)

Summary.   In this paper we present 17 new AMS dates from the Mesolithic–Early Neolithic sites of Padina and Hajdućka Vodenica and discuss the continuity and nature of occupation at them in the context of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transformations in the Danube Gorges region (north-central Balkans), c.10000–5500 Cal BC. The dates indicate long occupation sequences and help refine the stratigraphies of the two sites. They, also enable us to date architectural features, burial positions and bone/antler tools, and to further our understanding of the impact of the noted aquatic reservoir effect on radiocarbon dating of human and dog remains from this region. Finally, these dates suggest continuity of occupation at sites other than Lepenski Vir in the Danube Gorges at the time of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition, c.6300–5950 Cal BC.     

The Antiquities Market

Abstract

Excavations in 1988 at Neolithic 'Ain Ghazal in central Jordan have recovered a well-preserved specimen of a plastered human cranium. This conforms to other examples known from Levantine Neolithic sites, notably Jericho. The 'Ain Ghazal skull adds to a very limited assemblage of comparanda, and allows rare insight into both ritual and artistic behaviors.     

Portable XRF analysis of zoomorphic figurines, “tokens,” and sling bullets from Chogha Gavaneh,Iran

This study examines small finds from the site of Chogha Gavaneh, Iran, including zoomorphic clay figurines, geometric-shaped objects (often referred to as “tokens”), and sling bullets in order to investigate the possible social and economic functions of these artifacts. While Chogha Gavaneh has been occupied from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) (ca. 9000 B.C.E) period to the present, we focus on 87 small finds from the Early Chalcolithic period (ca. 5000–4000 B.C.E.). We explore how portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) provides a new line of data with which to test the conventional wisdom about the uses of these small finds. Our findings suggest that local production is unlikely to account for the diversity in the elemental composition of the small finds. We argue that this supports claims that Neolithic and Chalcolithic people exchanged “tokens”. The presence of non-local zoomorphic figurines also raises interesting questions regarding their possible role in past societies.     

Evidence of butchery and hominid activities at Torralba and Ambrona; an evaluation using microscopic techniques

Torralba and Ambrona have been interpreted as butchery sites for many years, a contention recently challenged; natural death or carnivore activities are invoked as an alternative explanation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of bone surface replicas distinguishes among hominid-produced cutmarks, carnivore tooth scratches, and other types of bone damage. A sample of 102 replicas, comprising the most likely cutmarks on a combined sample of roughly 3000 fossils from Torralba and Ambrona, were scanned to determine the major agent of damage. Microscopically verified cutmarks are present, but rare, occurring in less than 1% of the bones in the combined sample. Carnivore tooth scratches are comparably rare. In contrast, evidence of sedimentary abrasion, which obliterates the diagnostic features of cutmarks, is present on nearly every bone from Torralba and Ambrona. It remains unresolved whether cutmarks were initially more common on these bones and were subsequently obliterated by abrasion, or whether the incidence of cutmarks was always low. These data demonstrate clearly that hominids and carnivores each damaged some bones at Torralba and Ambrona, but the frequency of each type of mark is too low to confirm strongly the interpretation of these sites as either butchery or carnivore remains.     

Relative frequency of butchering cutmarks produced by obsidian and flint: an experimental approach

An experimental approach was used to determine how stone tool materials affect the frequency of observed cutmarks. Five whitetail deer were butchered by an expert butcher using flint and obsidian tools and the skeletons were prepared and analyzed. The authors found that the deer butchered with obsidian tools generally displayed fewer incidents of cutmarks than their flint-butchered counterparts. Consideration of this variable may prove to be important to archaeologists attempting to answer questions of specialization or when making comparisons of cutmark data between sites.     

A new method for the quantitative analysis of cutmark micromorphology

Cutmarks found on the fossilised bones of butchered animals provide direct evidence for the procurement of meat through technological means. As such, they hold some of the oldest available information on cognitive ability and behaviour in human evolution. Here we present a new method that allows a three-dimensional reconstruction of cutmark morphology and the quantification of profile parameters. We have tested this new technique on cutmarks that were experimentally inflicted on a pig rib using a steel knife and an un-retouched flint flake at different angles. The method allows for the cross-sectional shape, the sharpness and depths of the resulting cutmarks to be quantified. The data show that knife mark sections are characterised by a V-shape or √-shape depending on the inclination of the knife. Cutmarks produced with the flint flake were less clearly defined and generally less sharp than those produced by the knife. We discuss the method's potential to provide new information on butchery technique and cognitive abilities developed by the human lineage, from the earliest tool-using hominins through to modern Homo sapiens.     

Negotiating Equality through Ritual: A Consideration of Late Natufian and Prepottery Neolithic A Period Mortuary Practices

Mortuary rituals, specifically secondary mortuary practices with the socially sanctioned removal of all or some parts of the deceased, are a powerful means of social integration during periods of social, economic, or environmental change. Integrating ethnographic data on the social impact of secondary mortuary ceremonies with archaeological evidence from the Late Natufian and Prepottery Neolithic A periods of the south-central Levant, this study explores how the development and maintenance of intentional secondary mortuary rituals, such as with the removal and reburial of skulls, served as powerful communal acts that symbolically and physically linked communities and limited the perception or reality of social differentiation. Continuity within, and meanings behind, secondary mortuary practices during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene prompts the researcher to reevaluate previous interpretations of the relationship(s) among the appearance of formalized social inequality, food production, and the definition of personal relations within Levantine Neolithic communities.     

Marking Identity through Cultural Cranial Modification within the First Sedentary Communities (Ninth to Eighth Millennium BCE) in the Near East: Tepe Abdul Hosein,Iran

This paper explores bioarchaeological evidence for cultural cranial modification (CCM; a.k.a. headshaping) in early Neolithic Near East and at Tepe Abdul Hosein (TAH), Iran, in particular. Skeletal remains from 12 Neolithic individuals (n  = 12) recovered from eight mortuary contexts were analysed for evidence of intentional CCM. The TAH remains are among the earliest Neolithic human skeletal remains in the world, dated to around 10 000 years ago. Five adult individuals have sufficient cranial remains to allow assessment of CCM. Of the remaining seven individuals, three are foetuses or perinates, for which no in vivo CCM was expected to be observed, two are subadults with no assessible cranial remains, and two adults have no associated cranial remains. Of the five adult individuals, which could be assessed for CCM, four display circumferential CCM, instigated by the use of two bands. Three are male, while the sex of the fourth cannot be estimated. The fifth individual displays no modification and is female. While all the modified individuals that can be sexed at TAH are male, the sample size is too small to draw extensive inferences as to the potential connection of CCM with any gendered sociocultural practices. Other possible motivations for CCM at TAH include elaboration of status differentiation or group affinity, the former of which can most likely be ruled out based on current understandings of early Neolithic societies in the region. The extent of the two‐band circumferential modification at TAH is significantly more pronounced than at Ganj Dareh, a contemporaneous site located within the same watershed. The discovery of different extents of headshaping within the same watershed, in relatively close proximity to each other, has a bearing on the understanding of the first sedentary Neolithic communities in southwest Asia and the elaboration of bodily difference and identity. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The First Evidence for Leprosy in Early Mediaeval Scotland: Two Individuals from Cemeteries in St. Andrews,Fife, Scotland,with Evidence for Normal Burial Treatment

The study of skeletal material recovered from excavations at two distinct early mediaeval cemeteries in St. Andrews, Scotland, resulted in the diagnosis of one individual from each cemetery as having had facies leprosa (leprosy). Radiocarbon dating gave a likely date in the 8th century ad for the Hallow Hill skeleton, and the Kirkhill skull was probably from the same period. Both skulls displayed the full range of classic signs of facies leprosa. The bone changes were slightly different in the two, the maxillary alveolus having been more severely affected in the Hallow Hill skull, whereas the posterior palatal area showed greater damage in the skull from Kirkhill. The skeletons were not segregated but buried in the middle of cemeteries used for the general population, thus supporting previous research in both the history of medicine and human bioarchaeology that suggests that people with leprosy were not necessarily stigmatised in the past. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Processing the dead in neolithic orkney

Summary Megalithic tombs are a characteristic feature of Neolithic Orkney and have formed the focus of numerous studies. This article examines the surviving human skeletal remains found within these cairns in the hope of determining how the dead were processed during this period of prehistory. It is shown that the fate of the body was a long and complicated affair, which involved elements of both direct interment and excarnation. It is argued that the archaeological evidence reveals that in most cases an articulated corpse was directly interred in a tomb and then subsequently dismembered until only the skull remained. This process seemingly occurred amongst several cairns during the earlier Neolithic, and during the later Neolithic the practice was restricted to the confines of a single exclusive passage grave.     

Neolithic nomadism in south‐east Arabia — strontium and oxygen isotope ratios in human tooth enamel from al‐Buhais 18 and Umm al‐Quwain 2 in the Emirates of Sharjah and Umm al‐Quwain (UAE)

Human skeletal remains from the Neolithic sites BHS18 in the interior of the Sharjah Emirate and the Neolithic shell midden UAQ2 (Umm al‐Quwain) on the coast of the Persian Gulf (United Arab Emirates, UAE) were analysed for their isotope ratios of strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and oxygen (¹⁸O/¹⁶O). The results are not in agreement with earlier assumptions about a Neolithic nomadism between inland regions and the south‐eastern coast of the Persian Gulf. Existing evidence of nomadic movements of the people from BHS18 most possibly refers to transhumance within the mountains in the hinterland. The strontium isotope measurements on human skeletons from UAQ2 on the contrary indicate uninterrupted residence of this population on the coast. Nevertheless, evidence was found of individual mobility between inland regions and the coast.     

Multidisciplinary analysis of a mummified cranium claimed to be that of a medieval execution victim

This article presents a multidisciplinary analysis of a human skull with preserved soft tissue curated by a small museum in Boscastle, Cornwall, UK. The skull lacks a mandible and is coated in a black tar-like substance. Records left by a previous museum curator (now deceased) claimed the skull to be the head of a medieval execution victim. The skull was purportedly recovered from a London church that was destroyed during the Second World War where it had been kept in a carved oak box. If these details are correct, the skull would appear to have been venerated as a relic. The skull and box have been analysed using a range of techniques including computerised tomography, laser scanning, microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and radiocarbon dating. These analyses demonstrated the skull in fact to be that of an Egyptian mummy dating from the Ptolemaic period. Other instances have been noted of parts of Egyptian mummies being presented as European saintly relics, and the ‘Boscastle skull’ would appear to be an example of such. A wider point illustrated by the work presented here is that sufficient application of modern analytical techniques may reveal considerable information regarding human remains which otherwise have little or no provenance. This point strengthens arguments for the retention of such remains by curating institutions.     

Wild at heart: Approaching Pitted Ware identity,economy and cosmology through stable isotopes in skeletal material from the Neolithic site Korsnäs in Eastern Central Sweden

The Middle Neolithic Pitted Ware Culture on the Baltic Sea islands comprised a common identity distinguished, in part, by an almost exclusively marine diet. Based on evidence from the first stable isotope analysis on Pitted Ware skeletal material from the Eastern Central Swedish mainland, we suggest that this identity was shared by PWC groups in the archipelago of the west side of the Baltic. Fifty-six faunal and 26 human bone and dentine samples originating from the Pitted Ware site Korsnäs in Södermanland, Sweden were analysed, and the data clearly shows that the diet of the Korsnäs people was marine, predominantly based on seal. The isotope data further indicate that the pig bones found in large quantities on the site emanate from wild boar rather than domestic pigs. The large representation of pig on several Pitted Ware sites, which cannot be explained in terms of economy, is interpreted as the results of occasional hunting of and ritual feasting on wild boar, indicating that the animal held a prominent position, alongside seal, in the hunting identity and cosmology of the Pitted Ware people. Further, eleven new radiocarbon dates are presented, placing the Korsnäs site, with a large probability, within Middle Neolithic A.